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It is difficult to have much (maybe any) sympathy for Goldman Sachs, but Congress's use or abuse of its power to compel people to attend their hearings should be a source of concern. Congress has the subpoena power, and if you don't come when summoned to appear you can go to jail. For Congress to use this power not primarily to get information but to force people to sit there while members of Congress make grandstanding stump speeches is troubling. And it is especially troubling when there is pending litigation brought by the government itself. Those summoned to appear are thus in an untenable position, and it is even more untenable when, as we now know, there appears to be a criminal investigation going on as well. Moreover, as we have seen in countless other instances (consider the tobacco hearings of a few years ago), the current display has nothing to do with government assistance to Goldman Sachs. Yes, members of Congress should make speeches condemning what they see as dangerous or immoral or illegal practices, including by Goldman Sachs. But requiring on pain of imprisonment the target of those speeches to sit there and be harangued in person is showboating at its worse. And since the speeches are invariably prepared in advance of the hearings, it is hard to say that the Members are genuinely interested in obtaining information for these witnesses.

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